It's only fitting the top two MVP candidates at the halfway point of the season are the stars of the two best teams in the league - Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks and Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns.

Nowitzki, whose Mavericks have an NBA-best 34-8 record going into tonight's game at Orlando, has a two-point lead over two-time defending MVP, close friend and former teammate Nash, whose Suns take a 13-game winning streak and a 32-8 record into tonight's contest at Washington.

USA Today subjectively picked 10 candidates and ranked them in six statistical categories that measure every aspect of the game. The player who performs best in a category gets one point, down to 10 for the worst score. The player with the fewest total points in all six categories is the theoretical MVP leader according to the index.

Nowitzki, a 7-footer who both rebounds and makes three-pointers, is perhaps the most difficult individual matchup in the league.

"Dirk gets my vote," says Nash, the only player averaging double figures in assists (11.5).

Nowitzki, though averaging fewer points than he did last season, is getting more rebounds, more assists, is shooting better from the field and from three-point range, and is having a bigger impact than ever before.

"There are a lot of guys playing on an MVP level, but what he's doing night in and night out, I wouldn't take anybody over him," Dallas coach Avery Johnson says.

Gilbert Arenas of Washington has dazzled fans and propelled the Wizards to 15 wins in their last 20 games and is tied for third place in the MVP index with Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs.

"You talk about MVP being Nash, Nowitzki, or Kobe (Bryant), but the guy who has to be mentioned now is Gilbert Arenas," TNT's Charles Barkley says.

Arenas scored an NBA-high 60 points in one game, 54 in another and 51 in a third and has a league-high seven games of 40 points or more. He's casting his vote for Nash.

"You have to really do something dramatic in this league." Arenas says. "If Kobe averages 35 with an 81 (-point game) and he didn't get it (last season), you have to do something else in this league to overtake what Steve Nash has done. If it ended today, he's MVP. Period."

(China Daily via USA Today January 26, 2007)